When an artist impressed Salman with a stencil graffiti poster of 'Tubelight'

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These are paper print-outs of sticking, or the decoupage technique, that lends the background more detail

Harun Roberts, aka Rob from POGO channel's show M.A.D. (Music Art Dance), is best known for introducing Indian viewers to the realm of DIY, long before social media and forums like Pinterest came into being. The 35-year-old's latest feat is a 4 ft. by 4 ft. stencil graffiti poster that he has made for the just-released Salman Khan-starrer Tubelight. The superstar, we are told, loved the artwork so much, he took it home.

Hex nuts or paper weights are placed on the paper while painting to prevent the surface from shifting. This is followed by filling in the outline with yellow and blue spray paint. One can only move on to the next layer after the previous layer is completed

While stencil graffiti is a well-known street art technique, made popular by anonymous street artist and global phenomenon, Banksy, India is still new to the skill.

"Stencil graffiti is one of my favourite things to do. With stencils, you can replicate your art easily on any surface. You place the stencils one at a time, spray paint over it, and then remove the stencil. It's a fast process, which is why street artists prefer it, since at most places where graffiti art on walls is not allowed, they need to finish their art work quickly and leave," explains Roberts, who created the poster in a day. He has in the past made a stencil graffiti poster for Suicide Squad and one for the popular Netflix series Narcos, using salt. More recently, a piece of shadow artwork that Roberts made for Shah Rukh Khan on his birthday got him trending on social media.

"I used old film reels stuck on sticks, made to look like lollipops. I arranged them in such a manner, that when their shadow would fall on the wall, it would form a portrait of SRK. During the release of the recent film on Sachin Tendulkar, I made a portrait of the legend using cricket gear suspended from the ceiling. I like to pick up occasions and work around them," says Roberts, who now runs his own channel on YouTube called Mad Stuff with Rob.

To make it look more realistic, the graffiti is divided into five latyers right from base, colours and contours. Roberts also uses a golden marker for the finishing touches. The poster was made in a day.

For the Tubelight poster, he used six layers of stencils for the base, outlines, contours, colouring and so on. "I stuck them on a sunboard, which is usually used in kiosks. It's easy to manoeuver these. I picked various elements from the film and worked them in. The first look was already out, so I stuck to that. The song Radio from the film had just released, so, I incorporated the radio into one of the layers. When I finally presented the poster to Salman, he liked it. The good thing about him is that being an artist himself, he understands the technicalities. He was quite impressed with the detailing that has gone into the poster," Roberts says, adding, "I wish I could sit down with him and discuss art, but, Salman Khan is a busy man."

The artist admits to not being a big Bollywood buff. "But I do admire the three Khans, mostly because I grew up watching their movies." He does share a past connection with Salman though. "In my college, my friends would commission me to make sketches of Salman which they would in turn present their girlfriends, who were Salman Khan fans.

Harun Roberts

I've made numerous portraits of him. But this is the first time that a portrait of Salman made by me reached him and not his fan." Roberts says that he did share this anecdote with the actor and they shared a hearty laugh over it.

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